Solving Slow Download Speeds...

Check out this article:
http://www.slyck.com/news.php?story=493

Quick outline guide HERE
Thanks to Master.Zen_ for the above.

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Solving slow BitTorrent download speeds

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I’m writing this post to act as a start point for the steady flow of people asking about BT downloads.
This guide relies on the use of Azureus or Yet ABC as they are highly recommended. The ABC core is currently slightly dated, but this will be updated soon. (For those using BitTornado - ABC uses the BitTornado core, but has a queuing system for better control of multiple torrents). Azureus requires Java. If after installation the application will not load, it is because you do not have Java. You are not the first to think you have Java when you do not! More information on the Azureus site.

Other BitTorrent clients are available to switch to after working through this guide.

Contents:

1.0 Why are my downloads going slow?
1.1 How do I know if I have this problem?
2.0 Solving slow downloads
2.1 Configure Your XP Firewall (ICF: Internet Connection Firewall)
2.2 Configure Your Router
2.3 Configure Microsoft Internet Connection Sharing (ICS)
2.4 Configure Your Firewall
3.0 Multiple BitTorrent users on a LAN
4.0 Other things that could be wrong
5.0 Freezing torrents and/or 100% CPU usage

1.0 Why are my downloads going slow?

BitTorrent works on a credit system. By uploading parts of a file other people, they allow you to download parts of the file from them. This is BitTorrents anti-leech measure. However, if you have a problem with your NAT (anything between you and the internet, such as a router or firewall), you will not get credit for what you are uploading. The only downloading that you can do is from people who upload a small amount to you in the hope that you will return the favour. Since their client will not recognise your response if you have a firewall problem, then they will stop uploading to you shortly after. This is what is causing your problem. You may also notice that torrent speeds go very high for 5mins, before slowing back down to 0-5kb/s.

1.1 How do I know if I have this problem?

You might not have a problem at all. Before continuing with this guide, leave your torrent running for at least ten minutes. If the speed hasn't picked up, stop and restart the torrent. If you are still having problems, continue on...

Uninstall your current BitTorrent client. (Do not worry, you can switch back to it later)
Install either Azureus or Yet ABC. Please note, Azureus requires java to be installed.
Start to download a file using your chosen client.

This guide has been updated for Azureus 2.1.0.0 and ABC 2.6.8. Different versions may vary.

AZUREUS
Wait a while for the torrent to get started; this may take up to five minutes.
Look in the “Health” column. If it is showing a yellow spot, then you need to configure your firewall/NAT/router. If it is Green then all is OK. Your slow downloads are being caused by something else.
A full list of the different colours can be seen here.

YET ABC
Wait a while for the torrent to get started; this may take up to five minutes.
Look at the colour of the torrent. If it is yellow (sometimes appears slimy green. If it is green then you will know it), then you need to configure your firewall/NAT/router. If it is green then all is OK. Your slow downloads are being caused by something else.
A full list of the different colours can be seen here.

2.0 It’s showing yellow – what do I do?

You need to configure your computer and/or network to accept incoming BitTorrent port connections. The tracker port is 6969. If this port is not correctly configured, downloads will not start at all. The download/upload ports are 6881-6889. It is these ports that are causing your problems.

2.1 Configure Your XP Firewall (ICF: Internet Connection Firewall)

Open up your “Network Connections”. Right click on your internet connection or LAN connection and select “Properties”.
->Select the “Advance” tab
->If the “Internet Connection Firewall” is not ticked, then this is not your problem. Research into whether you need the XP firewall or not and jump to "Configure Your Router" below. If it is ticked, please continue:
->Click “Settings…”
->On the “Services” tab press “Add…”
->Description of service = BitTorrent
Name or IP address of the computer hosting this service on your network = 127.0.0.1 (this means "the local machine.")
External Port number for this service = 6881
Internal Port number for this service = 6881
TCP/UDP = TCP
->Press OK.
-> With ABC, repeat as many times as you want simultaneous downloads, increasing the port number by 1 each time. Realistically you don’t need more than three ports.
-> With AZUREUS, this process only needs to be done once. Make sure that "View -> Configuration -> Server -> Incoming TCP Listen Port" is equal to 6881.

Check if the torrent/health has gone green. If not, carry on:

2.2 Configure Your Router

If you are on a LAN with a router or hardware firewall, you may need to configure it. You need to forward BitTorrents connection ports to your specific PC on the LAN.
If your connection is shared using Microsoft Internet Connection Sharing (ICS), go to section 2.3.
There are too many routers to cover in this guide, so it is time to head to Google. Search for port forwarding, BitTorrent and the name of your router.
Lots of manufacturers provide specific information on their sites.
With ABC, forward as many ports as you want simultaneous downloads. Start with port 6881 and forward ports in increments of 1.
With AZUREUS, forward port 6881. Make sure this matches "View -> Configuration -> Server tab -> "Incoming TCP Listen Port"

Check if the torrent/health has gone green. If not, carry on:

2.3 Configure Microsoft Internet Connection Sharing (ICS)

If you are sharing an internet connection using ICS, then you will need to forward the BitTorrent ports.
Windows 2000 users, click here for information on forwarding (mapping) ports.

Other users:
Practically Networked provides a useful tool, called “ICS Configuration” for changing the settings of ICS. Download the latest version from here.
-> Install the program on the serving computer and run it
-> Click “+ Add”
-> Name = [whatever you want, e.g. BitTorrent]
-> Target = Local IP of machine running BitTorrent, e.g. 192.168.0.2
-> Description = [whatever you want, e.g. “allow bittorent for 192.168.0.2”]
-> On the “Ports” tab, slect “+ Add”
-> Select “Port Range” from the drop-down box
-> Enter “6881” and “6889” into the relative boxes
-> TCP/UDP = TCP
-> Data translation = NORMAL
-> Press “OK”, Press “Enable”, Press “OK”.
-> Close everything and reboot the PC.

The settings will be saved in your registry. There is no need to open ICS Configuration with ICS.

With ABC, repeat for as many ports as you want simultaneous downloads. Start with port 6881 and forward ports in increments of 1.
With AZUREUS, forward port 6881. Make sure this matches "View -> Configuration -> Server tab -> "Incoming TCP Listen Port"
Check if the torrent/health has gone green. If not, carry on:

2.4 Configure Your Firewall

As with routers, there are too many to cover here, so time to head to Google.

Another helpful guide on how to configure your BT client can be found here.

3.0 Multiple BitTorrent users on a LAN

The same port can not be forwarded to different computers, so decide who gets what ports, for example:
192.168.0.2 = 6881 – 6883
192.168.0.3 = 6884 – 6886 etc.

In a network of AZUREUS users, each person only needs one port.
Set up your router or ICS to forward the ports to the chosen computers.

Now you need to set up the BitTorrent Clients:

AZUREUS
Each computer only needs one port forwarded to it.
-> View -> Configuration
-> "Server" on the side menu
-> On “Incoming TCP Listen Port” enter the port number that is being forwarded to that computer. Taking from the above example, computer 192.168.0.3 would enter 6884.
-> Repeat for all the users

YET ABC
Action-> ABC Preference
-> Set “Minimum port number” to the lowest port number that is being forwarded to that computer. Taking from the above example, computer 192.168.0.3 would enter 6884.
-> Set the “Maximum number of simultaneous downloads” to the number of ports forwarded to that computer.
-> Press “apply”
-> Repeat for all users.

4.0 Other things that could be wrong

Try limiting your upload if you have ADSL/DSL. Sometimes BitTorrent can try to upload so much that it floods your upload, making it difficult for incoming connections. Slyck.com explains further:
Quote:
It might seem strange to hear that your upload speed can directly affect your download speed, but it can, and quite dramatically. The reason behind it is based on the way the Internet works. When you download a file (or in this case, chunks of a file), your computer sends a tiny message back to the source computer, called an ACKnowledgement packet. These ACK packets tell the source computer that chunk #1 has arrived OK, please send #2. When #2 is down, it sends another, and so on. The source computer will not send #3 until it gets the ACK from #2. It uses a small amount of your upload bandwidth to do this. This works fine when downloading files off the Internet, but with P2P, you tend to upload as well.

This is especially true with BitTorrent – because you upload as well. If done efficiently, downloads can be very fast. The problem lies with the fact that you upload *so much* that the ACK's do not get sent out fast enough, which slows your download. The simplest way to solve this is to limit your upload bandwidth. 80% of the maximum is usually recommended, but I find I can set it to 90% with no adverse effects. This gives your ACKs a bit of breathing space to get out with.

CCSDUDE makes this recommendation on limiting your upload:
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Originally Posted by CCSDUDE
Try 11kbs up as your limit on a 128k upload package...double it for 256/1.5mb lines and keep going up as you hit 384/ect. That seems to be the sweet spot on BT. Enough to keep everyone happy whilst not slowing your downloads down or slowing your surfing.

5.0 Freezing torrents and/or 100% CPU usage

Make sure you are running the latest version of your favourite client, as many have now solved this bug.

-RaZ- has provided help for those who are still having problems:

You need to limit the number of peer connections to 60.

AZUREUS
View -> Configuration -> Transfer -> set the "Maximum number of connections per torrent" to 60.

YET ABC
Action -> ABC Preference -> Advanced setting -> set the "Max peer connections" to 60

[url][/url]

wow nice guide Smile

That is a lot of reading Shocked

Started reading it....nice info aswell..... got halfway down the post...

....started to feel dizzy......things start to go black......

.....bump I passed out......

big post Shocked

...

But nice info, Very Happy

thank you

heh
That's what you're supposed to read only what applies to you (aka: Table of Contents!)

Quote:

Contents:

1.0 Why are my downloads going slow?
1.1 How do I know if I have this problem?
2.0 Solving slow downloads
2.1 Configure Your XP Firewall (ICF: Internet Connection Firewall)
2.2 Configure Your Router
2.3 Configure Microsoft Internet Connection Sharing (ICS)
2.4 Configure Your Firewall
3.0 Multiple BitTorrent users on a LAN
4.0 Other things that could be wrong
5.0 Freezing torrents and/or 100% CPU usage

Damned good guide man!

Thanks alot, helped me out no end!!

Smile

Thanks for the guide, lot of questions are ansered

Alright...I read your guide and here's what I did:
I went to another page and read about how to do port forwarding on a linksys router...I did that and thought I opened up ports 6881-6889 like I was supposed to do. I restarted my computer. I started up Azureus and I still got the yellow faces which meant I had an NAT problem. I did the same thing all over again with no changes. What am I doing wrong? Is there any way for me to solve this problem????

Help would be greatly appreciated...you could pm me. Thanks so much.

Edit: Its fine now, I fixed it myself.

Last edited by Supafunkyj on Sun Sep 05, 2004 4:10 pm; edited 1 time in total

love you man.. you save me from slow downloads ehehhe
thanks man hehe Wink

Kinda off topic but... I'm using azureus and my downloads fly!, its just my uploads that are slow... any tweeks I should know about?
Very Happy

thx.

yea.. firstly thanks for the guide.. made my download burst up to 40kb/s from just a sad 0.7kb/s.. Wink

secondly I was wondering is that my limit or can I go faster.?? Shocked

thirdly, I do want to upload (seed) my downloaded materials but the speed is just pathetic.. 0.1kb/s - 2.2kb/s.. is there a way to make it go faster.. Rolling Eyes

I am using ABC, and I set the maximum upload to unlimited but does not seem to have any effect.. Confused

My uploads are really mixed. Sometimes they're up to 40 sometimes less than 1 kb/s. It's not you but the other side is more responsible for the performance. As long as you're paying attention to all the things which are described above, and not limiting your ul, then you need to accept this poor upload speed.

	teriieroo wrote:
	My uploads are really mixed. Sometimes they're up to 40 sometimes less than 1 kb/s. It's not you but the other side is more responsible for the performance. As long as you're paying attention to all the things which are described above, and not limiting your ul, then you need to accept this poor upload speed.

oic.. thanks for the info.. just yesterday, I find that almost all of my files are in green while downloading, that is good right?
plus my upload speed is up too 4kb/s.. better than the previous numbers that I was getting.

what about my first and second question.??
can I be faster?? Rolling Eyes

I've posted before about this uploading subject,
and talked alot about it (to no end sometimes) with moderators here, and with people at work, and came to my own conclusion.
knowing that my upload speed (recently) has not reached anywhere near the speed it should be
<< www.dslreports.com/stest (get a bits to bytes conversion tool) (you'll need it) (google it) >>>
keep in mind that your ISP MIGHT! be capping your upload speed.
cause you know, you're a criminal that downloads and shares porn and stuff (jk)

but I'm not saying to call your ISP and bitch their ears off. find out the facts first.
also, ISP capping is not just limited to your total upload speed. if they wanted to, they can cap certain ports...like your BT ports.

but changing that didn't work out for me either, so I think I know what I gotta do.